


The Mythical Bean

by GretchenSinister



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2019-12-08
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:00:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21722620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GretchenSinister/pseuds/GretchenSinister
Summary: Original Prompt: "So I thought we needed a really damn silly AU prompt to get a break from all the angst and stuff.Pitch is the author of a known book series, under the synonym of Kozmotis Pitchiner. Problem is, he has the writing block of the century and it’s pissing him off to the point that he lashes out at almost everyone.Sandy and North run a café/coffee place, with Sandy handling the books and North being the guy you can always talk to. He and Pitch have known eachother for ages, to the point that he knows when he gives Pitch something regular, or when he can use an ‘experiment’ on him (“Try this hot chocolate, is for christmas special!” “What’s this burning after taste?” “Chili!” (uber bonus if you can work that line in somewhere))And then Pitch meets Jack...[cut for length]"Fun fact: in the comments, three separate people offered to fill this. Anyway, you’ll see eggnog and feather pillow before there’s even a hint of blackice, but really there’s just hints of everything.
Relationships: E. Aster Bunnymund/Nicholas St. North, Jack Frost/Pitch Black, Sanderson Mansnoozie/Toothiana
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26
Collections: Blackice Short Fics





	The Mythical Bean

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr on 12/17/2014.
> 
> Here's the rest of the prompt: "Jack is the new Barista at the coffee place as something to have on the side while he’s in college, and he’s pretty much a breath of fresh air, even though he and Pitch probably get off a rocky start (wrong order, spilled drinks, North comes in before it gets too bad, apologies exchanged and so on.)
> 
> Bunnymund and Tooth are other regulars of the coffee place (Bunnymund delivers ingredients for whatever food they serve and Tooth is a fashion designer) and everyone in the coffee place end up conspiring somehow to get Pitch and Jack together, because it has probably been forever since Pitch was with anyone, and it would be good for them both. Especially since Tooth finds out that Pitch gets new inspiration based on the jokey antiques he pulls around the coffee place, which most customers find amusing.
> 
> The story doesn’t have to end in sex, but if you feel it can be worked in somewhere, then go ahead!"

“What’s this burning aftertaste?” Pitch asks, grimacing at the little paper cup that North had handed him moments before.  
  
“Chili!” North says proudly. “Is for the Christmas special!”  
  
“But it’s hot chocolate,” Pitch protests. “I–well, that’ll teach me to sit at the counter and be your guinea pig, I guess.”  
  
“He just doesn’t appreciate your genius,” says the man unloading carefully wrapped blocks of gourmet fair-trade chocolate onto the highly polished wooden shelves behind North.  
  
North grins and half-turns from Pitch to lean on the counter. “Someday, Bunny, I will figure out if you are serious or not when you say these things. And it was not all my genius. You mentioned idea a long time ago.”  
  
“And you remembered?” Bunny pauses in his work for half a second. “Well, I’ll be sure to tell you if I’m ever serious just as soon as you tell me why you’ve kept calling me Bunny for so long.”  
  
North scoffs exaggeratedly. “Suits you much better than Edward or Aster. Also, lift from knees, not from hips! You are being bad to your back!”  
  
“Criminy, I know what I’m doing,” Bunny gripes. He bends over for the last of the chocolate and North shakes his head.  
  
When he’s gone, North finds Pitch glowering at him over his drip coffee. “What?” North asks.  
  
“I don’t come here to see you flirt with the deliveryman,” Pitch says.  
  
“Of course not,” says North. “That would be very undignified. Why do you mention this?”  
  
Before he can do more than give North a disbelieving look, the bells on the door jingle and a woman in a bright green coat and headscarf hurries in. “Hi North!” she calls.   
  
“Tooth!"   
  
She smiles, and quickly looks around the coffee shop, even peering over the counter, as if checking to see if anyone’s hiding behind it. No one is. "Darn,” she says.  
  
“You can always come back later.” North winks at her and starts to grate some chocolate.  
  
“Oh, well–no! Uh, there’d be no reason to, right? I came here for coffee.” Her hands flutter at her jewel-bright scarf. “But at this time of day…oh, nevermind. North, can you get me seven–no, eight, let’s fill up the carriers–large hazelnut coffees?”  
  
“This better mean you have interns again,” North says, brushing off his hands and gathering the to-go cups.  
  
“Ten thousand interns!” Tooth throws her hands in the air dramatically. “That is, six. All girls this time. I hope this means they require less supervision than before, but who knows, with undergraduates? I did bully the big boss into actually paying them enough to make rent, though, so I can hold that over their heads if they start making tulle mazes in the shop instead of what they’re supposed to be doing.” She breathes deeply of the steam from the hazelnut coffee. “That’s fantastic. Okay, but before I go, can you say something to me, North? I think I’m getting better.”  
  
North signs something to her.   
  
She narrows her eyes in concentration. “Good luck…and then something about girls. Shoot! The videos make it seem so easy!"   
  
"Good luck keeping the girls in line,” North says, helping her balance one of the coffee carriers on her arm. “See you later–even tomorrow is good, yes?”  
  
“Count on it!” Tooth calls, bumping open the door with a jingle.  
  
“Where _is_ Sandy, anyway?” Pitch asks once she’s gone.  
  
“He went to campus to get us a new barista,” North says. “We are doing very well!”  
  
“What? He’s just going to wander around campus until he finds someone who wants a job? That’s not how things are done!”  
  
North shrugs. “We have no online system, we need a new barista now, and on paper we will get too many people exaggerating about fluency in ASL, which is dealbreaker to Sandy. He asks around in person now, will be obvious. And see!” The bells on the door jingle again. “He found someone!”  
  
Pitch turns to see Sandy leading a skinny young man with bleached hair and a blue sweatshirt into the coffee shop. They converse in sign–Sandy could hear, but he couldn’t speak–and Pitch wonders if the boy is Deaf, to choose to talk to Sandy this way.  
  
“Sandy! And…Frosty?” North squints at Sandy’s hands.  
  
The boy blushes–curiously delicately, Pitch can’t help but think, for a college student. “It’s Jack, actually.” He makes a sign. “That’s the name my sister gave me. You must be North.”  
  
“The not-so-silent partner of the Mythical Bean,” North says proudly. “Welcome aboard. I know I have paperwork somewhere…”  
  
“Sandy said you might want to interview me?"   
  
"Sandy is pickier than I am,” North says. “But have you ever worked in a coffee shop before?”  
  
“Uh, no…”  
  
“Is all right,” says North. “I will train you! Be ready!” He laughs his booming laugh. Jack looks to Sandy, who smiles reassuringly, while Pitch rubs his temples. “But really, it will not be too hard. I will usually be here, if only to vex Mr. Gloomy.” He points at Pitch. “He doesn’t ever leave–I think he might be a ghost but he drinks too much coffee,” he says in a stage whisper to Jack.  
  
“You could have just had me introduce myself,” Pitch says, shifting to face Jack. “I’m,” he hesitates a moment, thinks about giving his birth name, but what’s he afraid of? That Jack won’t recognize the one he’s used for the past 15 years? That he will? Why does he care what some kid thinks, anyway? “Pitch Black.”  
  
Jack’s eyes widen. “No way! You wrote _Summer Camp_! That’s one of my favorite–”  
  
“Really?” Pitch says, his lip curling. “I wrote that book when I was in the cesspool of my twenties and had less awareness of anything outside myself than a rock. I think the fact that it’s still in print is an appalling commentary on the state of society today. Tell me, Jack, what was your favorite part of it? Debbie’s mutilation? Shawna’s? Perhaps you preferred the part with the horses.”  
  
Jack goggles at him. “Uh…you mean…you mean it _wasn’t_ meant to be ironic–or…satirical, whatever the right word is?”  
  
Pitch looks like he wishes he could be swallowed up by a convenient sinkhole. “No,” he admits, very quietly.  
  
Jack’s eyes widen even farther, but before he can say anything, North triumphantly holds up the forms Jack needs to fill out, and Sandy ushers him into the small office and closes the door.  
  
“That is no way to greet cute fan you will be seeing a lot of,” North says to Pitch in a low tone.  
  
“He’s barely old enough to drink, it doesn’t matter if he’s cute,” Pitch mutters. “And after what I said…”  
  
North shrugs.  
  
“Look,” says Pitch, his face still red. “No matchmaking nonsense. I’m just here to try to write, and it’d be bizarre after today.”  
  
North just winks, and Pitch turns back to the blank page of his laptop screen, not even hoping anymore that he’ll be able to write something today.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments from Tumblr:
> 
> ksclaw reblogged this from gretchensinister and added:  
> *rolls around happily* This is one of my prompts <3 lord mercy, I’ve hoped for a fill for so long. Even if it’s a short one, it’s good as always <3333
> 
> bowlingforgerbils said: This was ADORABLE.


End file.
